Fifty years ago, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle produced great Home Run Derby, debate

September 28, 2011|By Michael K. Bohn, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Many in the Yankee Stadium crowd of 58,000 had headed for the gates as New York pitcher Bud Daley closed out the Cleveland Indians in the top of the ninth. It was a satisfied throng, one buoyed primarily by the Yankees' sweep of the Sunday doubleheader. There also was a considerable buzz that day, Sept. 10, 1961, about Mickey Mantle's 53rd home run in the second game, the latest highlight in what the news media had dubbed the "Home Run Derby."

Mantle and his teammate, Roger Maris, were the sensations of the national pastime 50 years ago, hitting home runs at a blistering pace. The "M&M Boys" were jacking baseballs out of American League parks at a rate that threatened Babe Ruth's legendary 60-home run record from 1927.

Roger had hit his 56th the day before the Cleveland twin bill. He was by then four games ahead of Ruth's pace, and Mantle, two behind. At that point (Sept. 10), it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that either Mantle or Maris would be the new single-season home-run king.

Their slugging, plus a dynamite collection of other hitters and pitchers, had propelled the Yankees to an 11 1 / 2-game lead over second-place Detroit. The Yankees had won 12 in a row and their home record had reached a lofty 61-15.

The 1961 season proved to be a banner year for American League power hitters. The league had added two teams that year, and suddenly 20 pitchers who should have been minor-leaguers were in "the show." Other sluggers also feasted on the diluted pitching — Baltimore's Jim Gentile and Minnesota's Harmon Killebrew each had 43 home runs by Sept. 10, followed by Cleveland's Rocky Colavito with 41. By the end of the year, home run production had risen 10 percent over the 1956-1960 average.

The expansion also led to an increase in games played, from 154 to 162, in order to balance the number of times each club played the others. This produced tension among the baseball faithful, since Ruth had hit 60 in 154 games. Were either Mantle or Maris to break the Bambino's record by season's end, how would baseball's tradition-heavy bean counters handle the extra at-bats?

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That teammates were each making a run at Ruth's hallowed record spoke to the strength of the 1961 Yankees. On offense, a new Murderer's Row rivaled the 1927 Yankees, with Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Johnny Blanchard and Bill Skowron backing up Mantle and Maris. Clete Boyer, Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson anchored the infield, with Mantle, Maris and Berra in the outfield. Years of catching had worn down Yogi, so to extend his career, he frequently played leftfield and generally left his tools of ignorance to Howard and Blanchard. Whitey Ford, who would win 25 games that year, and Ralph Terry led the starting pitchers.

Mantle and Maris, who had come to New York in 1959 from Kansas City, proved to be a formidable duo the year before during the bittersweet 1960 season. The newcomer edged the established team star in the MVP voting, and the Yankees won the American League pennant by eight games over Baltimore. However, New York's seven-game loss to Pittsburgh in the World Series ended the campaign with a thud.

The New York owners responded by hiring a new general manager and put manager Casey Stengel, the "Ol' Perfessor," on a train to a California retirement. To replace him, they hired Ralph "The Major" Houk, a journeyman big league catcher who had won a Silver Star in World War II.

Although Stengel had batted Maris fourth and kept Mantle, a two-time league MVP, in the three-hole, Houk soon flipped that order. Sportswriter Phil Pepe argues that the switch-hitting Mantle gave Houk more flexibility in the cleanup spot and a chance for more RBI. Once Maris started hitting homers in bunches in May, Houk moved him permanently to third. Maris saw better pitches in front of Mickey and he didn't draw an intentional walk during the season.

Mantle started the year with a bang, hitting five home runs in the first 10 games. Maris was as cold as a New York shoulder until April 26, when he hit his first in the team's 11th game. By May 4, Mantle had hit nine, and Maris, two.

The Yankees sputtered along for much of May, as the team leaders alternated in batting slumps. However, starting on May 28 and continuing for four weeks, New York's offense found its footing. On June 22, Maris' home run total had reached 27 and Mantle's, 22.

This home run explosion sparked national media attention in the M&M Boys, and the daily newspaper reporting began including the possibility of one or both breaking Ruth's record.

After his 27th, a reporter asked Maris about his thoughts on breaking the Babe's record. "I never give Babe Ruth a thought," Maris replied testily. "Not now or ever."

By about that point, some reporters had created a bitter personal competition between Mantle and Maris, hoping to sell more papers. There was no actual animosity between them, and they enjoyed several similarities.